Apple is proprietary, plus they're at war with Google. Steve Jobs threatened to destroy Googles Android, there's no way Apple cares.

Yet I'm sure there is some sort of workaround. Someone with iCloud experience is bound to comment on your post.

I have had my cloud strategy In place for some time now, working fast, smooth & stable. There's no reason to risk the problems I had with MobileMe, not to mention the price premium associated with anything Apple. They always get the most money. Based on the Freemium model, iCloud will surely make tons of money for Apple.

Three things:
-My Gmail account has and will persist through many generations of different devices that I own
-Gmail will most likely be more compatible with a wider range of devices, both presently and in the future
-I use many different OS's concurrently, so iCloud is too proprietary of a system to provide unified functionality to all of my devices in a manner as efficient as Gmail

So now, my method of getting contacts from iCloud into Gmail:

*This requires at least some contacts synced to iCloud

1. Log into iCloud dashboard: https://www.icloud.com/
2. Click "Contacts" button
3. Select All Contacts (click one contact then "Ctrl+A" on Windows)
4. Click the "Actions Menu" (Gear in the bottom lefthand corner) and select "Export vCard"
5. Download the attachment and save it somewhere you'll be able to find later (file is called "Acontact and ### others.vcf")
6. Log into Gmail
7. Go to your Contacts
8. Click "More" (the button directly to the right of the "Add New Contact" button)
9. Click "Import"
10. Click "Choose File" and choose the .vcf file you just downloaded
11. Click "Import"

Done.

*The "Find & merge duplicates..." option under the same "More" menu in Gmail is incredibly valuable.

Thanks so much to Adam. This was a huge help - I followed you beautifully clear instructions to the letter & now am back to having my gmail contacts intact & have unsynced from icloud!

Can I ask is there a way to do the same thing with calendars? I want to get google calendar to sync with iphone. I still have the calendar turned 'ON' in icloud and in exchange/gmail, but again (like contacts) it seems it only wants to sync with one (currently icloud).

I am curious about those who have managed to get icloud, google and iphone to all sync (without duplicates or stuff missing)...but I think I will just go down the path of choosing one or the other so I am looking to do as follows:

-mail, contacts & calendar with google
-notes with icloud or gmail depending on which account I chose

I look forward to your advice re the calendars export/import into google.

Three things:
-My Gmail account has and will persist through many generations of different devices that I own
-Gmail will most likely be more compatible with a wider range of devices, both presently and in the future
-I use many different OS's concurrently, so iCloud is too proprietary of a system to provide unified functionality to all of my devices in a manner as efficient as Gmail

So now, my method of getting contacts from iCloud into Gmail:

*This requires at least some contacts synced to iCloud

1. Log into iCloud dashboard: https://www.icloud.com/
2. Click "Contacts" button
3. Select All Contacts (click one contact then "Ctrl+A" on Windows)
4. Click the "Actions Menu" (Gear in the bottom lefthand corner) and select "Export vCard"
5. Download the attachment and save it somewhere you'll be able to find later (file is called "Acontact and ### others.vcf")
6. Log into Gmail
7. Go to your Contacts
8. Click "More" (the button directly to the right of the "Add New Contact" button)
9. Click "Import"
10. Click "Choose File" and choose the .vcf file you just downloaded
11. Click "Import"

Done.

*The "Find & merge duplicates..." option under the same "More" menu in Gmail is incredibly valuable.

Three things:
-My Gmail account has and will persist through many generations of different devices that I own
-Gmail will most likely be more compatible with a wider range of devices, both presently and in the future
-I use many different OS's concurrently, so iCloud is too proprietary of a system to provide unified functionality to all of my devices in a manner as efficient as Gmail

So now, my method of getting contacts from iCloud into Gmail:

*This requires at least some contacts synced to iCloud

1. Log into iCloud dashboard: https://www.icloud.com/
2. Click "Contacts" button
3. Select All Contacts (click one contact then "Ctrl+A" on Windows)
4. Click the "Actions Menu" (Gear in the bottom lefthand corner) and select "Export vCard"
5. Download the attachment and save it somewhere you'll be able to find later (file is called "Acontact and ### others.vcf")
6. Log into Gmail
7. Go to your Contacts
8. Click "More" (the button directly to the right of the "Add New Contact" button)
9. Click "Import"
10. Click "Choose File" and choose the .vcf file you just downloaded
11. Click "Import"

Done.

*The "Find & merge duplicates..." option under the same "More" menu in Gmail is incredibly valuable.

Three things:
-My Gmail account has and will persist through many generations of different devices that I own
-Gmail will most likely be more compatible with a wider range of devices, both presently and in the future
-I use many different OS's concurrently, so iCloud is too proprietary of a system to provide unified functionality to all of my devices in a manner as efficient as Gmail

So now, my method of getting contacts from iCloud into Gmail:

*This requires at least some contacts synced to iCloud

1. Log into iCloud dashboard: https://www.icloud.com/
2. Click "Contacts" button
3. Select All Contacts (click one contact then "Ctrl+A" on Windows)
4. Click the "Actions Menu" (Gear in the bottom lefthand corner) and select "Export vCard"
5. Download the attachment and save it somewhere you'll be able to find later (file is called "Acontact and ### others.vcf")
6. Log into Gmail
7. Go to your Contacts
8. Click "More" (the button directly to the right of the "Add New Contact" button)
9. Click "Import"
10. Click "Choose File" and choose the .vcf file you just downloaded
11. Click "Import"

Done.

*The "Find & merge duplicates..." option under the same "More" menu in Gmail is incredibly valuable.

There are two apps called Smooth sync for contacts and smooth sync for cal on Google Play. Once instaled they sync your contacts and events between your Android devices and iCloud, near real time. Now, no matter which device or OS I use to edit or add events or contacts those changes are synced across all devices seemlessly. Easiest way I have found.

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